Charles ctjttriss



(No Model.)

0. GUTTRISS. SEALING DEVICE.

No. 475,442. Patented May 24, 1892.

1771, velztor w: Noam: PETERS m, Pnorowmul, w-sm mrmv, a. (a

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES CUTTRISS,

OF- NEW YORK, N. Y.

SEALING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 475,442, dated May 24, 1892.

Application filed March 5, 1892.

T0 aZZ whom may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES CUTTRIss, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Sealing Device, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of the same.

The invention subject of this application is an electrical device for applying sealingwaX or similar fusible material for sealing letters or packages or forstamping impressions; but while it is primarily designed for such use it may be used and applied generally in any case where a fusible material in the form of sticks or pencils is to be melted off and applied to other bodies either for sealing or other purposes.

The invention is mainly designed for use in oflices, stores, or the like where there is an electrical circuit convenient, such as may be used to run incandescent lamps, although the device may be operated by any convenient source of electric current.

The invention consists in a tube or holder which is adapted to contain one or more pieces or sticks of sealing-wax or a like material. Across one end of said tube or holder a refractory conductor-such as a fine platinum wire-is extended, generally in a nu mber of bends or turns, so as to form a species of grating upon which the end of the stick of sealing-wax may rest. hen a sufficientlystrong electric current is passed through the platinum wire, the wire, becoming heated, melts the end of the stick of wax, permitting it to exude through the meshes of the grating, so that it may be readily smeared or rubbed off onto any desired article.

There are certain specific features which also distinguish the invention; but these will be described by reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved sealing device, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central section of the same.

A is a tubular holder conveniently made of someinsulating material-such as porcelain and of any length and bore that may be desired. In one end of the tubular holder A are driven or set a number of pins II, around which and crossing the open end of the holder Serial No. 423,817. (No model.)

is wound a fine platinum conductor or like means for producingheatand withstanding a certain amount of pressure and strain. One end of therefractory wire G is connected to a conductor E, which passes up either within or without the holder, while the other end is connected by a similar wire F to a contactpoint D on the side of the holder.

0 is a resilient contact-strip attached to the holder and serving, together with the contact D, as a circuit-controller conveniently manipulated by the user of the device.

One or more sticks or pieces of sealing-wax B is inserted in the holder and permitted to rest upon the wire G either byits own weight or by the use of any convenient device that will force it up into contact with the said Wire as fast as it is melted and rubbed off. In order, however, to relieve the wire G from too much pressure, two or more small pins or lugs K are placed within the tube A just above the Wire G, and these support the stick of sealing-wax, but permit it to be fed along as it is melted off.

By connecting this device with an electric circuit and closing the switch 0 the end of the stick of sealing-wax is immediately fused by the heating of the Wire G. The melted portion may then be rubbed off onto the paper or other surface. The heads of the pins II, projecting from the end. of the tube, protect the wire G and prevent it from beinginjnred when the wax is rubbed on the paper.

It will readily be seen that this device is a useful and convenient substitute for the present methods or means for applying sealingwaX. Only such portions of the wax as are actually needed at any one time are melted, while the entire stick maybe utilized without inconvenience.

hat I claim isl. A sealing device consisting of a tube or holder for containing a stick or piece of sealing-wax or like material, a refractory wire or grating at the end of said tube, and means wire, combined and arranged as set forth.

2. In a device for applying sealing-wax, the combination, with a tube or holder for containing a stick of sealing-wax, of pins set in the end of said tube, arefractory wire stretched over said pins across the opening of the tube,

for directing an electric current through said IQO and a GiTCUiuQOHtI'OHGI and conducting-Wires and means for passing a current through said for passing a current through the refractory Wire, as set forth.

wire. 7 1

The OOIIIbiHZLtiOILWit-h the tubular holder CHARLES QUTTRISS' 5 provided with lugs K near its end, the pins II, Vitnesses:

set in the end of the holder, the refractory ROBT. F. GAYLORD,

Wire stretched across the holder on said pins, I PARKER U. PAGE. 

